Star Trek: "The Slaver Weapon"

Data
Title: Star Trek [The Animated Series]: "The Slaver Weapon"
Year: 1973
Network: NBC
Episode: the fourteenth (of sixteen) from season one; 24 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Hal Sutherland
Writer: Larry Niven, based on his story
Starring: Leonard Nimoy
With: George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Majel Barrett, James Doohan
Music: Alexander Courage (theme); Ray Ellis, Norm Prescott
I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently a couple days ago (have on DVD)
Synopsis: rogue aliens have an ancient weapon that they don't know how to use

My reaction
Concept: 4/4 (Great)
Story: 3/4 (Good)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad). "Wait, hold on, let me explain things for ten minutes."
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). It would have been a good episode, if it was an episode of a different show. Niven forces his own universe into the Star Trek universe, and it doesn't fit. There's just too much history and mythology to explain that has no connection to anything in the show.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.4/4 (Okay)